Affective Variables and a Less Commonly Taught Language: A Study in Beginning Japanese Classes*

Learning a less commonly taught language or a “noncognate” language such as Japanese can be a daunting task for American students. The number of American students who are studying Asian languages at the university level-in particular Japanese and Chinese-is skyrocketing. Unfortunately, however, the attrition rate among these students is also very high. The present study explored the possible relationships between affective variables (e.g., attitudes, motivation, classroom personality) and students' linguistic performance in beginning Japanese classes. It was hypothesized that the high difficulty level of this noncognate non-IndoEuropean language would trigger strong negative affective reactions that would, in turn, affect their linguistic performance. The results of the study indicate that motivation and attitudinal factors are critical in predicting students' success in Japanese. Classroom personality factors such as risktaking and discomfort were also found to be determinants of the students' final grades. In addition, negative changes in the students' attitude and motivation were observed when the results of the autumn quarter were compared with those of the spring quarter. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to enhance students' motivation and attitude toward learning Japanese.